Candida northwykensis sp. nov., a novel yeast isolated from the gut of the click beetle melanotus villosus

Abstract

Two yeast morphotypes, BET 4^T and BET 7, were isolated from the gut of click beetle Melanotus villosus. Click beetles were collected from the decaying timber within the woodlands of North Wyke Research, South West England, UK (latitude, 50°46'29"N; longitude, 3°55'23"W). Morphotype BET 7 was identified as Debaryomyces hansenii, and the other morphotype, BET 4^T, was found to differs from Priceomyces castillae and Priceomyces haplophilus, its closest phylogenetic neighbours, by 5.0% with respect to the nucleotide sequence of the D1/D2 domain of the large-subunit (LSU) rRNA gene, and by 8.0% with respect to the ribosomal internal-transcribed spacer (ITS) region. BET 4^T also differ from P. castillae and P. haplophilus in a number of different phenotypic characteristics. Thus, based on the unique nucleotide sequences of its D1/D2 domain and ITS region, its physiological characteristics and an inability to sporulate, strain BET 4^T is assigned the status of a new species of Candida, for which the name Candida northwykensis sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is BET 4^T (NCYC 3525^T = CBS 11370^T).